El Caminito del Rey

On Thursday I had a chance to walk through a stunning gorge along a famous walking path called “El Camino del Rey” or “Caminito del Rey.” The walk is named after King Alfonso XIII who walked this path, or more correctly the “old” Camino del Rey path, almost 100 years ago. It is a quite remarkable experience to complete this walk and I was lucky enough to walk it in the company of a good friend, Julio Rodriguez.

The walk is fascinating for all kinds of reasons. In addition to the jaw-dropping scenery, the history of the walk is fascinating as is the natural history. I am planning to consider the history and natural history in future posts on this blog, together with a sad story we heard from a walking guide.

For the moment I thought it might be interesting just to take a look at some of the photographs we took. I doubt I ever took as many photos on a single day before!

If you ever have a chance to do this walk leap at it! You need to be moderately fit and to have a head for heights. The walk is not particularly strenuous but it is long, particularly if you walk from one end to the other and then back, as Julio and I did. I think we were on our pins for about five hours all told!

We started our walk at the dam on the Conde del Guadalhorce reservoir and walked a couple of km through lovely countryside to reach to the beginning of camino proper.

Off we go!

Julio looking cool!

On the right is the entrance to a railway tunnel

It´s a long way down!

I really ought to clean the mud off my boots!

The old camino can be seen in many places. Here it is beneath the newly constructed walkway.

Julio doing his thing

Two intrepid adventurers! My wife saw this picture and says I look like a dork. It´s the hair net apparently!

This is a gap between two railway tunnels which pass through the rock. A train passed through this shortly before the photograph was taken.

From a little further back!

It is helpful to have a reasonable head for heights here!

We tried to estimate the height of this cliff – we figured it rises straight up about 400 feet

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4 Comments:

Hi Paul
Looks great – I went up a few years ago and came away when I got the closed area. I’m not mad enough to go anywhere the nutters were ignoring the closure and climbing scrambling through.
There’s a youtube video of one chap’s headcam footage of going through and it’s hair raising watching.
It’s on the list for September when we come over

I remember seeing a youtube thing too and it is pretty scary! The walk is great fun and feels really safe now. Make sure you book a place nice and early Simon because it is very popular. It can be booked online by just putting “caminito del rey” into google. All the best, P

Thanks Jackie. The walk is really amazing. I must admit I was just blown away by the scenery. My only regret was not being able to take a decent piccie of one of the griffin vultures. The sky was full of them!